In some (rare) cases a vassal with your dynasty will be inherent at their monarch death. How does this works?
the following might still have errors, as its really opaque.
same mechanic as inheriting random nations.
you can even inherit vassals of someone *else* this way.
it has nothing to do with PU, but rather is depending on the tier system en the roll a monarch makes when he takes the throne.
if then the nation is heirless and in right tier in a certain period of 5 years, it could trigger.
details are in the guide, under inheritance section.
1. So HOW does it work exactly (this is theory):
I wish to thank @Ternega to submit this theory in the thread. What follows is his theory on how inheritance works, and it is backed by observations and indirect evidence.
I will refer to a potential inheritor (player or random) as country X, to their existing PUs as PUs and to countries with disputed succession as DS.
You will need knowledge in chapter 4 to understand what is written below, as it involves tiers of nations.
Inheritance consists of 3 steps:
A) Random dice roll for all nations, the INHERITANCE ROLL (IR for short) for nation X
IR is not displayed anywhere in the interface and cannot be influenced by reloading game. Its up for debate when this roll occurs, but indirect evidence and observations leads to conclusion that it is likely rolled when any monarch takes throne in any nation, OR in periodic intervals of few decades. What is certain and backed by numerous observers: save scumming with an old ruler will NOT alter the outcome of inheritance, which leads to the above conclusion it has to happen lot sooner. Inheriting independent nations is special case, see below.
My own theory is that the actual chance for PU (or random inheritance) is calculated when the new (current) ruler takes/took the throne, and NOT when the current ruler dies. After that, this chance gets re-rolled on periodic (long intervals; length of timer unknown but likely 10+ years). Save scumming with a 70+ old king and hoping you will inherit won't work, as the chance is already calculated when he took throne or the SAME for a long period. I think they installed this to avoid players save scumming till they inherit.
Proof enough if you ask me
This roll will be checked if ANY heirless nation or PU subject can be directly inherited.
B) Comparing IR to the individual inheritance threshold chance (IT for short)
this is the % chance you can see in tooltips of PU subjects) of each PU stable for 50 years and for any DS nations that you can legally inherit (heirless (vassal) nations being in inheritance tier).
The full probability to inherit -for PU overlord or strongest successor for inheritance tier heirless (vassal) nations- can be calculated as 5 x Diplomatic Reputation for + Stability (Senior) + 5 if both partners share a culture group -1 per province in the junior partner or inheritance tier heirless nation.
I bet you say "wait what" now
The rule of thumb is you can start to get % chance to inherit a junior PU or random nation that has dip rep times 5 in amount of provinces. You will get chance even sooner if you share culture, and a bit more if you got +3 stab.
important sidenote: Take into account that stacking these modifiers doesn't mean a guaranteed inheritance; the roll the game does on monarch taking throne has to be good enough. The modifers above just widen the range in which the inheritance roll is successful (which is something that is not very Obvious).
example: Austria has 10 diplo rep, 3 stability. Same culture group 3 province nation is heirless and in inheritance tier and their ruler dies , or Austria 3 province PU subject has been subject for 50+ years and new ruler takes throne in Austria.
Austria would get 50% chance from dip rep, 3% from stability, 5% from same culture group and -3% from 3 provinces in PU/DS for a total of 55% as inheritance treshold chance.
the inheritance chance of PU subject is calculated with diplomatic Reputation, which is 5% per point, and number of provinces owned by the junior, which is -1% per province. Austria would get 70% chance to inherit at 14 dip rep, before counting provinces of junior PU or DS.
so for a 14 diplomatic reputation Austria: if any Austrian PU subject has 70+ provinces, forget an inheritance even at 14 dip rep, barring stability and culture group influence.
The inheritance chance of random nations is calculated the same as above, but is ALSO dependant on them being in the right tier (see chapter 4) -which is EXTREMELY RARE- and on another rule: you can only inherit a nation if you have twice their province number, and IF the nation is smaller then 15 provinces.
IF IR<IT you will inherit nation on step C. It should be noted if multiple PUs have same IT they will be all inherited simultaneously or not at all.
C) Inheritance itself, happens when new ruler takes throne for PUs and when their ruler dies for DS. For PUs if check didn't pass they will stay your PU (assuming positive relations). For DS nations will either be inherited, become your PU, cause succession war or gain your dynasty, depending on the tier they are in. Vassals will never become personal unions, but can be inherited (including, in extreme cases, vassals of other nations ).
Only Inheritance threshold can be influenced without use of console.
2. EXAMPLE, because examples are easier to understand:
let us take Burgundy as example, led by a player, past 1500.
All three PU subjects of Burgundy can be inherited. Burgundy also has a chance to 1. to inherit the OPM independent heirless nation of Lorraine , and 2. to inherit their heirless vassal Nevers because both of those nations are in the right TIER to be inherited.
------> Step A:
Burgundy king took the throne decades ago, and the inheritance roll occured that day with a 100 sided dice, d100. The game rolled 10.
------> Step B:
1. Burgundy has three PU subjects. The king in Burgundy dies, or abdicates. The game compares the IR inheritance roll in step a versus the IT inheritance threshold chance of Burgundy' PU subjects (the chances can vary depending on current diplo reputation and stability, see formulae above). The IR inheritance roll is BELOW the IT inheritance threshold chance for all three subjects (meaning that IR 10 was lower then the xx%chance to inherit), which leads to inheritance of all three in step C. If the inheritance threshold roll is only lower then the inheritance chance for only ONE of the PU subjects, then Burgundy will only inherit that PU subject. Or two outta three. Or none.
2. Nevers and Lorraine have an invisible high inheritance threshold chance because they only have a few provinces. Since Nevers is a vassal of Burgundy and cause Lorraine is independent, the check for inheritance happens when *their* ruler dies. The new King of Burgundy was in line to inherit Nevers and Lorraine IF their ruler ever dies heirless while those nations are in the inheritance tier, because the inheritance roll of Burgundy was the lowest of all the possible successors with inheritance chance.
So, if a nation gets really Lucky to be strongest successor while random nation is in inheritance tier and their ruler dies heirless.. You can then inherit nations half your province number with a maximum province number of 15..
example: A player once reported seeing Muscovy inherit entire Denmark, without them sharing dynasty (with just RM done). Muscovy must have had REALLY low inheritance roll to go under the very small inherit threshold chance to inherit Denmark. The default outcome would have been that Muscovy delivers noble to take throne in Denmark.
Are you still with me
Note AGAIN that the inheritance threshold chance to inherit independent nations will be a LOT higher if you stack a load of diplomatic reputation. A 14 dip reputation Austria can inherit eglible random nations easily depending if their ruler dies heirless in in the right tier, or if their PU subjects have lower province number then Austria diplo reputation x 5.
------> Step C:
Burgundy gets cores on ALL the provinces of the nations that get inherited, and all nations inherited by Burgundy vanish from the map, becoming territory of Burgundy. Having negative opinion with legible inheritance subjects WILL prevent the inheritance, and might lead to the normal 'break union'. What happens to vassals/colonial nations of inherited nations needs to be tested still.
3. Important tips:
*if you see in diplomatic window of PU subjects that you will inherit one or even 5 at once, then ABDICATE. You will inherit them all immediatly, if it showed you would.
*for best chances of inheritance you should maximize your diplomatic reputation (and stability for that little extra nudge) when your ruler gets old (40 age or 50 age should be good threshold to do it, depending whether your ruler is general or not), additionally you can use enforce culture (if available) to gain an extra 5% chance.
Can you see now WHY Austria inherits a lot? They got high natural diplomatic reputation as emperor, their stability is usually high, and their culture group consists MANY nations.
*Keep these parameters as high as possible until they are no longer in DS. When trying to inherit nations in DS it is advisable to focus on nations within your own culture group, and to weight benefits of inheritance with risk of gaining them as PU instead.
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